Opening Atlantis (2007)

I was really hoping/expecting more sci-fi (or fantasy), and instead it's just an alternate look at what might happen if there was a landmass between the New World and Europe. It starts with the founding of a colony there and follows with a couple of stories involving people descended from the founder.

It's well written, but it's not something I would have read if not picked out for a book club. ( )

I was really hoping/expecting more sci-fi (or fantasy), and instead it's just an alternate look at what might happen if there was a landmass between the New World and Europe. It starts with the founding of a colony there and follows with a couple of stories involving people descended from the founder.

It's well written, but it's not something I would have read if not picked out for a book club. ( )

SF&F book group read for May

Opening Atlantis is the first book of a new speculative fiction series from Harry Turtledove. I hope the pacing of this novel is not an indication of what is to come: an extended work that could easily be told in one volume. I found the pacing for this book almost unbearably slow. That is not to say there is no action in the book/ In fact, there is quite a bit of action in the opening and the ending, it is just the middle that I found so ponderous.

I know that speculative fiction or alternative history is supposed be present history as it never happened, but I have some problems with the foundation premise of this story. I have a hard time accepting a land mass the size of Turtledove’s Atlantis would have remained unknown for as long as it did. I also have a hard time that Portuguese fishermen would have stumbled onto this landmass and would not have claimed it and begun colonizing it. The time period for this happening coincides with the real beginning of the dominance of the Old World’s oceans and early colonization attempts by the Portuguese.

What follows is a slightly altered history of the world from the fifteenth through the eighteenth century. The English still fight the French who fight the Spanish and the Portuguese are forgotten except when they fight the Dutch. A subtext of destroying the land through over development and over hunting / fishing is also laid down. As I said, very ponderous reading.

The story ended just as I was starting to get into the politics of the characters. If I chance across and subsequent installments, I will probably read them. I did not find the story compelling enough to want to go out and pursue more of it. I do enjoy alternative history, I just did not find this story all that different.

I’m going just above mediocre for my rating of this. If you are a fan of Harry Turtledove, you will probably want to get this for your collection. If you enjoy historical fiction, you might enjoy this. If you are looking for a more radical departure from history, this is not it; try His Majesty’s Dragon instead. ( )

I found this book interesting but a bit tedious at times. The time periods covered are varied and give a good insight to the dominate family in the book, English settlers Ratcliffe. The family split in the second period covered with the respectable side dropping the "e" of the family name. A colorful tale with interesting characters make it a book worth reading and it does set up nicely for the sequel. ( )